Chapel Hill Car Insurance
Chapel Hill is known as one of the most popular university towns because it's home to the first public university in the nation.
While the infamous Tar Heels from the University of North Carolina live and study in Chapel Hill, it's also a nice place where vibrant people from all walks of life can live, work and play. That's why the city has earned a City Livability Award for offering residents a superior quality of life.
Chapel Hill is a great place to call home but there are drawbacks. Even though the Chapel Hill has a fare-free light rail transit system and bicycle paths, it still has a low walk score and transit score, making it a car-dependent city. If you own a car, you must abide by the car insurance laws.
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All Insurance Laws are Governed by the State of North Carolina
Chapel Hill might be a unique town full of students, professionals and families, but like all other cities in North Carolina, residents of the city must abide by the state-mandated insurance laws.
Under the enacted legislation, the state sets the requirements pertaining to auto insurance and regulates all contracts sold.
What are the auto insurance requirements in North Carolina?
North Carolina law says that a driver who causes injury to a person or damage to someone's property is legally responsible for paying for the damages.
Since North Carolina is a state that operates under tort law, state officials have made auto insurance liability mandatory. In addition to the liability requirements, state officials require owners to also purchase uninsured motorist protection.
What are the minimum limits of liability that you must carry in North Carolina?
If you license a vehicle in the state, you're required to maintain continuous liability insurance.
Failing to keep your insurance valid will result in suspension of your registration and other serious penalties. All residents in North Carolina are required to buy their coverage from a company licensed by the state Department of Insurance.
All NC insurers will sell at least the following minimum limits of liability:
- Bodily Injury: $30,000 per person, up to $60,000 per accident
- Property Damage: $25,000 per accident
- Uninsured Motorist Protection: $30,000 per person, up to $60,000 per accident
- Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist Coverage if you carry more than state minimum limits
- Limits are written 30/60/25
What if you're a resident in another state and have out-of-state plates?
Since Chapel Hill is home to the University of North Carolina, you can expect a huge percent of the population to come from other cities and states.
In fact, out of the population of 59,635 residents, about 29,135 are undergraduate or graduate students at UNC. This creates some unique challenges for insurance rules in the area.
If you're from out-of-state and you're only in North Carolina to study, you may intend on keeping your registration in your state of residence. If you do this, you don't need North Carolina insurance.
Instead of buying insurance in the state, you need to satisfy the auto insurance requirements for the state where your car is registered.
What are the penalties for driving without insurance?
If you are a resident and you choose to register your car in North Carolina, you could be cited or penalized if you don't maintain your insurance.
The penalty for a first-time conviction is minimal but it does get more expensive when you make the same mistake twice. Here are the consequences of being uninsured:
- A $50 fine for first-time conviction plus a Class 1 misdemeanor
- Suspension of your registration for 30 days
- A fine of $100 and up to 45 days of imprisonment for second offense
- A fine of $150 and up to 45 days of imprisonment for third offense
- Suspension of driver license
Do you need higher limits of liability coverage?
You're legally responsible for paying for all of the damages that you cause while you're driving a vehicle that you own.
Buying the minimum limits that are required by law will ensure that you won't have to pay penalties for being uninsured, but that doesn't mean you'll never be forced to pay for damages out of pocket.
If you cause damages that exceed the limits, your assets and your future income could be at risk.
That's especially true in Chapel Hill, where the cost of living is about 21 percent higher than the national index. It's your job to look for a more comprehensive policy and to price the cost of higher limits. Most experts recommend at least 100/300/100 in liability protection.
Should you carry higher limits for Uninsured Motorist Protection?
Univeristy towns typically have high rates of uninsured motorists. While it's difficult to keep track of just how many drivers in Chapel Hill don't have insurance, you can use the statewide rates as your guide.
Based on the latest statistics, around 9.1 percent of drivers in North Carolina don't have insurance.
The rate of drivers with no insurance may be low compared to other states, but that's still about 292,000 uninsured cars out of the 3.2 million registered cars in the state.
Since this number doesn't include the out-of-state residents who don't have insurance, it's best for you to raise your limits of Uninsured Motorist Protection.
What other types of coverage can you purchase?
A basic auto insurance policy will pay for liability claims and uninsured motorist claims, but it doesn't offer any other first-party coverage.
If you want more protection, there are other types of coverage that you can elect to carry that will pay for your medical bills, repair bills, and other incurred expenses. Here are some of these options:
- Comprehensive
- Collision
- Medical Payment Coverage
- Rental car reimbursement
- Towing and labor coverage
- Auto death indemnity coverage
- Disability and total disability benefits coverage
- Miscellaneous vehicle endorsement for recreational vehicles
What's the difference between Uninsured Motorist and Medical Payments?
Both Uninsured Motorist and Medical Payments coverage options pay for medical bills.
While they sound like two similar forms of coverage, they are actually very different. You can only file a UM claim when someone who doesn't have insurance hits you while they are driving. Medical Payments is no-fault coverage with few restrictions.
You can file a Medical Payments claim when you're injured in an auto accident and you incur medical bills.
You could be walking, bicycling, riding a motorcycle, sitting in the passenger seat of a car or driving a car when the accident happens. Med pay does pay for emergency medical costs and treatment but it doesn't pay for lost income.
Do you need coverage for your vehicle?
Cars are expensive to repair. If you sustain damages in an accident, you can't bank on the fact that the other insurer will pay for your repairs. With this being said, carrying physical damage coverage can be expensive when you're trying to keep your auto insurance budget as low as possible.
If you're trying to decide whether to carry comprehensive and collision coverage, it can help to look at the average expenditures in North Carolina.
You'll be happy to hear that NC is ranked 44th based on the states with the highest premiums. If you're concerned with just premiums for physical damage, the average cost for comprehensive is $120.72 and for collision is $263.06.
Are you vulnerable to property crime in Chapel Hill?
Collision insurance premiums are about 2.5 times higher than comprehensive insurance premiums.
If you don't want collision, you should still consider carrying comprehensive insurance to protect yourself against property crime while your car is parked. But before you justify the estimated $10 per month, look at property crime rates in your area.
Based on the incidents reported over the period of a year, Chapel Hill has a fairly low property crime rate. Only 76 motor vehicle thefts have been reported, which is low based on the population. In looking at the trends, your chances of becoming a victim of property crime in Chapel Hill is 1 in 36. The national average is 1 in 26.
Now that you know what you're required to do, it's time to shop around for auto insurance. The best way to find affordable insurance rates is to shop the market so that you can see what the best insurers are charging.
If you want instant quotes from several insurers at once, you can use an online rate comparison tool and get a handful of quotes at once. Get to quoting and find a quality insurance policy.
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